By Sindhu Ananthavel
Artificial intelligence, lost literary figures and Santa Barbara jazz musicians were some of the subjects explored at the Raab Writing Fellows Showcase last week.
The event concluded the Raab Writing Fellows Program, a year-long UC Santa Barbara program where selected students are given a $750 stipend to conduct their own research or creative writing project while working with faculty mentors from the Writing Program.
“This program represents a really beautiful and productive collaboration between the community and the campus,” Raab program director Ljiljana Coklin said.
This year’s Raab Fellows pose for a picture with their certificates and with Raab program director Ljiljana Coklin, right. Photo by Sindhu Ananthavel
Out of the 20 fellows, 17 also presented their work at the UCSB Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities (URCA) Conference.
Students from all programs are encouraged to apply, Coklin said. The program is made possible by Diana Raab, a former UCSB Foundation Trustee and poet, nonfiction writer, educator and donor who supports young writers.
Prior to the presentations, Dean of Humanities and Fine Arts Daina Ramey Berry praised the students’ work.
“I’m so impressed with what you all have done,” Berry said. “The variety of the way you've expressed yourself, some of you are sharing very personal stories and experiences. It’s just really powerful.”
Graduating UCSB student Fay Harvey presented her Raab Writing Fellowship project on DJs in the Santa Barbara music scene. Photo by Nomi Morris
One Raab writer, Amitha Bhat, conducted a research study on perceptions of AI-generated literature to analyze how humans interact with art made by machine. Her data analysis examined responses for 270 participants who interacted with human or AI writing samples — without being told which was which. The study revealed that AI scored higher in all categories other than understanding, interest and emotional capacity.
“With the GPT samples, there’s a lot of output, but it doesn't actually have this strong through line that we want in a poem or a piece of writing,” Bhat said.
Leo Rubio did his project on the Jazz music scene in Santa Barbara. A saxophonist, Rubio’s multimedia project included videos of him performing as well as interviews with musicians in Santa Barbara.
“It’s an ongoing project, and I plan to interview as many musicians as possible throughout this year and next year,” Rubio said.
Several students did memoir-based projects, documenting their own experiences through their unique perspectives.
Scarlett Adams wrote about specific moments from her life from the perspective of inanimate objects such as a wristwatch and a piñata.
“For my intended outcomes, I want readers to think about what a story is like in the eyes of another person. How is my truth different from their truth?” Adams said.
Raab Writing Fellow Illeana Zuckerman researched and wrote on Aspasia of Miletus, an Athenian prostitute who was also a philosopher. Photo by SIndhu Ananthavel
Other students researched under-explored topics and figures.
Ileana Zuckerman researched and wrote on the figure Aspasia of Miletus, who is only mentioned in three contemporary works. A woman from Athenian society, Aspasia is a prostitute in some contexts, a philosopher in another, and altogether undefined. Zuckerman wrote a novella to recontextualize Aspasia by having her speaking to the reader on the sidelines of scholars arguing about Aspasia’s identity.
Coklin said seeing the fellows’ work progress throughout the year was deeply gratifying.
“I love seeing the breakthroughs that they have intellectually and as writers when they recognize a different direction, follow that and discover their own potential,” she said.
Sindhu Ananthavel is a fourth-year student at UC Santa Barbara studying Communication and minoring in Professional Writing in the Journalism track. She is also a web and social media intern for the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.